³⁰ The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the Levites, and all the people, great and small. And he ^(A)read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord.

² The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he ^(A)read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^(B)which had been found in the house of the Lord.

A New Covenant

³¹ “Behold, the ^(A)days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— ³² not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that ^(B)I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, ^[a]though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

The Whole Duty of Man

⁹ And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and ^(A)set^[a] in order many proverbs. ¹⁰ The Preacher sought to find ^[b]acceptable words; and what was written was upright—words of truth.

The Grief of Wisdom

¹² I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

Ezra Reads and Explains the Law

8 Now all ^(A)the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was ^(B)in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the ^(C)scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. ² So Ezra the priest brought ^(D)the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding ^(E)on the first day of the seventh month. ³ Then he ^(F)read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate ^[a]from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

⁴ So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose; and beside him, at his right hand, stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Urijah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah; and at his left hand Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. ⁵ And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people ^(G)stood up.

²⁴ “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will ^(A)bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the ^(B)book which they have read before the king of Judah,

¹⁸ Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.

¹⁹ Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes.